Tue, May 17

Lecture 15
Chapter 8
Managing IT Project Delivery
Announcements
Business Case Returned today. Grades out of 40:
Upper quartile: 35
Median: 33
Lower quartile: 31
Optional draft team business analysis this Thursday
Final report due in 2 weeks. No late submissions.
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Themes for chapter 8
1. Understand possible sources of IT project risk and how these can be
managed
2. Recognize different approaches to project execution and understand
their relatives merits
3. Understand the value of both consistency and agility in project
management
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What is an IT Project?
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Clear beginning and end
Can be any size or complexity level
IT focus – delivered by IT department
Managed by a project manager
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Project components
• Roles and responsibilities
• Documented plan
– What does ‘finished’ mean?
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Timing
Budget
Risk register
Issue register
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Why are IT projects difficult to manage?
Some things are easy to get wrong…
• Amount of change involved
• Time required
• Misunderstanding of requirements
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Major sources of implementation risk
1. Project size
2. Experience with the technology
3. Requirements volatility
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Effects of Additional Risk Factors (Large Size, High Technology,
High Requirements Volatility) on Project Risk
Project Implementation Dip
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Most projects don’t go smoothly all the way
New system going live common point
Expectations not always realistic
Short term downward shift may be necessary
All happens in middle of business cycle and
worker turnover
• Need to focus on end goal to get through value
of change when people are complaining
• Ideally see it before it comes and get people
9
ready
What People Expect and What Often Happens at System Cutover
What would you do as PM to manage the
performance dip?
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Portfolio Risk
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Multiple projects can add or reduce risk
Low-risk not always good
All high-risk is vulnerable
Identify risks in all projects, then consider
combined portfolio of risks
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Portfolio risk
•Multiple projects can compete for resources
•Changes in one project can affect another
•Do projects complement or compete with each
other?
•Need to have a portfolio mindset – not focus on
just one area
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Governance
•IT portfolio needs to be managed
consistently with company strategy
•There should be contingency plans
•IT oversight committee
•IT expert
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Project Categories and Degree of Risk
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Risk Assessment
• Risk profile questionnaire
• Higher risk score, higher management approval
required
• Repeated several times throughout project
• Different perspectives on risk expectation can
lead to disaster
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Risk and Return Distribution for Portfolio of Projects
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Development Methodologies
A development methodology is a sequence of
phases that a project will follow.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Analysis and design
Construction
Implementation
Operation and maintenance
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Adaptive Methodologies
Adaptive methodologies often focus on
prototyping and rapidly going through the
normal development phases several times
• Iterative – design, construct, implement on each
iteration
• Fast cycles
• Early delivery of limited functionality
• Require skilled management to quickly change
plans
• Analysis of value such as ROI becomes difficult19
Project Management
• No single correct plan
• Management Tools
– External integration tools
– Internal integration tools
– Formal planning tools
– Formal result controls
• See table: Tools for project management
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Tools for Project Management
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Influences on Tool Selection
• Low requirements volatility/low tech projects
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Easy to manage
Least common
PERT (program evaluation review technique)
CPM (critical path method)
• Low requirements volatility/high tech projects
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Difficult to manage
Eg. Converting mainframe system, developing web access
Outputs well defined
Technical complexity drives characteristics of successful
manager
– Formal planning not likely to add as much value
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Influences on Tool Selection (ctd)
• High requirements volatility/low tech projects
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Involve users in design, development and implementation
Develop user support
Formal planning and control tools help
Close, aggressive management of external integration
Leadership from management not technologists
• High Requirements Volatility/high-tech projects
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Managers need technical expertise
Ill-defined projects common
Formal tools useful once clarity is reached in direction
Cross effects of different factors becomes important
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Project Management
• Relative Contribution of Management Tools
– Depends on specific project
– Results-oriented tools work in structured/formal environment
– Depends on corporate culture
• Emergence of Adaptive Project Management Methods
– Approaches to design, deployment, implementation and
investment that assume a need to gather information and
learn as one goes.
– Not really effective universal methods yet
• Software Development Life Cycles
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SDLC breaks down development into stages:
Analysis and design
Construction
Implementation
Operation and maintenance
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Project Management (ctd.)
• Adaptive Methodologies
– Quickly build rough preliminary version
– Iterate through stages rather than finish every stage
– Fast cycle through stages
– Aim to deliver limited functionality fast
– Require skilled staff
• Adaptive Methods and change management
– Intensely involve users in evaluating outcomes
– Strictly control migration of system features from
development, testing to production
– Separating stages avoids major problems
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Process Consistency and Agility in Project Management
• Balancing tension between process consistency and
process agility
• Tools useful one place shouldn’t necessarily be
applied to everything
• Success in balance often includes minimal
formalization
• Flow
– Understand interrelationships between projects
• Completeness
– Keeping track of all tasks in project
• Visibility
– Getting info on status of rest of project
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Final exam
The final exam will be on Thursday, June 9 at
12pm – 3pm.
There are three sections:
1. Short answers (~25%)
2. Long answers (~25%)
3. Case study (~50%)
The exam is closed book, and designed to test
your understanding of concepts from class
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Preparing for the final exam
• Review the text book and class notes, including
cases
– What are the main messages in each chapter?
– What are the main lessons from each case?
• Focus on understanding the content rather than
memorizing details
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Final Exam Sample Questions
Short answer:
• What is the difference between security and
reliability?
• How does standardization affect business
opportunities?
• In what ways is IT infrastructure different from
other infrastructure resources?
• What is virtual integration and which company
did we study who specializes in it?
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Final Exam Sample Questions
Long answer (~250 words)
• Discuss what risks are associated with major IT
projects, and what a company can do to
mitigate against them
• Describe the challenges associated with
educating users of IT in a company, and what
IT-focused companies can do to help their
employees
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Case study questions
• Questions will be short and long answer from
the case
• Identify and analyze core issues, in a similar
way to how we have discussed cases in class
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